Warning : I'm going to go into HEAVY SPOILING details.
1. What do you think of BG3?
It's a pretty puzzling game for me.
It's a game that has had enormous hype, which came for a significant part from people that didn't play either the BG serie nor the DOS serie, and that's something that really leave me scratching my head.
It's a game that when I objectively look at, feels like it has the good stuff in the good place, but which failed to hold my interest in the long run.
It's a game that had enormous success, despite being pretty much the same than games which were successful but much less so.
In the end, though, I was somewhat disappointed in it. I DID play it quite a long time, but rarely felt really engaged, and I mostly lost interest at the end of Act 2. I tried to revive it by looking at potential hooks, like previous BG characters, and then I read about the butchering of the two evil-aligned characters and it just disgusted me and made me completely lost all lingering interest.
2. Did you play from early access or did you wait until full release?
Full release.
3. What did you find the most enjoyable?
The map are pretty enjoyable. They are choke-full of content, artistic and yet navigable.
The huge ambition displayed by the game is commendable.
Writing is decent, often witty and funny.
Graphics are gorgeous.
The devils are probably my favourite characters, being very well-written and dripping with the signature arrogance + smarts + layers upon layers of manipulations and machinations. I found them much more interesting and charismatic than the companions, TBH.
4. What about the least enjoyable?
This game, for well-done it is, has a looooong list of little (or large) annoying bits that really gnawed.
The first point is how they just misused the whole BG3 thing :
- I heavily dislike the fighting. BG was real-time, and wasn't so annoyingly gimmicky.
- The party limit of 4 is absurd.
- The use of the entire BG background. I don't buy the "WotC is to blame", as Larian could and factually did retcon what they wanted that was officially canon (like Jaheira dying). They seem to have just used the background as (usually bad, save for Jaheira which was very well-done) fanservice, and just mangled many parts (just can't get past how thy butchered S. and V. while claiming they were fans of the original trilogy, like seriously ?).
- The main story was just... not very interesting.
- On the whole, the game simply isn't BG3. It's DOS with a BG mask. I don't really see the point of making a sequel if it's to mostly ignore the serie DNA and use another serie DNA in place. I'm pretty sure the game would have been much better if it were straight-up DOS3.
The other main point that I disliked was how jarring and disjointed the narrative experience was, with absurdly over-the-top stakes and actors mixed with small-scale settings and gameplay segregation. A companion being so exceptionnal he litterally banged a goddess (like, seriously ?). The literal daughter of a goddess fighting alongside some lvl 6 who manage to be better than whole armies of heroes. A low-level acolyte being sent to grab some artifact which threaten the power of a semi-god. Said semi-god who just send us to do her bidding and then... do nothing when we come back empty-handed. A favourite, battle-hardened warrior from decades of fighting in the Blood War, strong and skilled enough to be the pet of a major lord of Hell, being a lvl 1 or 2 weakling.
There is also the feeling of "edgyness" that permeates the game and hurt what's left of the suspension of incredulity.
The last point, that compound the previous one, is all the little mechanical things that were annoying and constantly reminded me "you're not the guy in this world, you're a PLAYER who is PLAYING a GAME" (among the most egregious, the huge rolls in the middle of the screen).
In the end, the game failed to "immerse" me. It felt like it lacked any sort of passion (which is weird considering the enthusiasm Larian shown in official communication, but then they also repeated how they "loved" the BG serie and still made a game that doesn't feel like BG and doesn't respect the BG background, sooo...) and was too focused on mechanics and exagerration.
5. What would you like to see added? Any DLC, tweaks or extra features?
I don't feel this game needs something
ADDED. I feel it needs a lot of being
REWORKED. The game is ambitious and big enough as it is. But it has a lot of flaws hampering the fun and feels pretty soulless and performative.
6. Do you use any mods? If so which and why?
I use the mod altering the party cap. It's idiotic to be limited to 4 - I only ever played with 6. Sorry not sorry.
7. Do you play any other kind of D&D, Baldurs Gate or Forgotten Realm games/campaigns?
Played basically all Bioware games save Icewind Dales, all Obsidian games, all Owlcat games, most Larian games. I should be the most basic target for this game.